ICT4D

====**Information and Communication Technologies for Development** (**ICT4Dev**) is a general term referring to the application of [|Information and Communication Technologies] (ICTs) within the fields of [|socioeconomic development], [|international development] and [|human rights].====

It concerns itself with directly applying [|information technology] approaches to [|poverty reduction].

The history of ICT4Dev can, roughly, be divided into three periods:[|[][|13][|]]
 * ICT4Dev 0.0: mid-1950s to late-1990s. During this period (before the creation of the term "ICT4Dev"), the focus was on computing / data processing for back-office applications in large government and private sector organizations in developing countries.
 * ICT4Dev 1.0: late-1990s to late-2000s. The combined advent of the [|Millennium Development Goals] and mainstream usage of the Internet in industrialised countries led to a rapid rise in investment in ICT infrastructure and ICT programmes/projects in developing countries. The most typical application was the [|telecentre], used to bring information on development issues such as health, education, and agricultural extension into poor communities. More latterly, telecentres might also deliver online or partly online government services.
 * ICT4Dev 2.0: late-2000s onwards. There is no clear boundary between phase 1.0 and 2.0 but suggestions of moving to a new phase include the change from the telecentre to the [|mobile phone] as the archetypal application; less concern with [|e-readiness] and more interest in the impact of ICTs on development; and more focus on the poor as producers and innovators with ICTs (as opposed to just consumers of ICT-based information).

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Issues to address:==== ====
 * //Access and [|Infrastructure]//
 * //Capacity building and Education//
 * //e-Governance and e-Government//
 * //Environment and Agriculture//
 * //Free and Open Source Software//
 * //[|Gender] and [|ICT]//
 * //[|Health] and [|Medicine]//
 * //Policy and Social Analyses//
 * //Technical Innovation for Development//

Barriers in the field:====

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 * Lack of Infrastructure: no electrical power, no running water, bad roads, etc.
 * Lack of Health Services: diseases like HIV, TB, malaria are more common.
 * Lack of Employment: there are practically no jobs in marginalised rural areas.
 * Hunger: hungry users have problems concentrating.
 * Illiteracy: Text user interfaces do not work very well, innovative Human Computer Interfaces (see [|Human Computer Interaction]) are required.
 * Lack of means to maintain the project: some projects may be left to deteriorate in time because maintenance is sporadic and if a component breaks it is costly to obtain skilled people and parts to make a repair..
 * Lack of support from the local government
 * Social Contexts: the potential users living in rural marginalised areas often cannot easily see the point of ICTs because of social context and also because of the impediments of hunger, disease and illiteracy.
 * Possibility of encouraging brain-drain.[|[][|21][|]]
 * Corruption is one of the factors that hampers the implementation of ICT projects in rural areas.
 * Training and seminars must be conducted according to a suitable time for farmers, to make sure that their daily routine is not affected.
 * Many applications are not user friendly.
 * Projects are sometimes not being needs-driven.[|[][|21][|]]

Four key stakeholders:==== ====
 * Public sector (governments - from developed nations, developing nations, international bodies, and local governments)
 * Private sector (companies belonging to members of the target audience, multi-national organizations wishing to expand their markets to the 4 billion people under [|US$]2/day, pro-poor or social companies)
 * Informal sector (NGOs, advocacy groups, think tanks)
 * Representation from the target audience

Lessons Learned:====
 * Lesson 1: Involve target groups in project design and monitoring.
 * Lesson 2: When choosing the technology for a poverty intervention project, pay particular attention to infrastructure requirements, local availability, training requirements, and technical challenges. Simpler technology often produces better results.
 * Lesson 3: Existing technologies—particularly the telephone, radio, and television—can often convey information less expensively, in local languages, and to larger numbers of people than can newer technologies. In some cases, the former can enhance the capacity of the latter.
 * Lesson 4: ICT projects that reach out to rural areas might contribute more to the MDGs than projects based in urban areas.
 * Lesson 5: Financial sustainability is a challenge for ICT-for-development initiatives.
 * Lesson 6: Projects that focus on ICT training should include a job placement component.

Currently, the main two perspectives coming out of this sector are to emphasize the need for external aid to build infrastructure so that projects can reach viability, and the need to develop and build on local talent.

- sustainability: - scalability: ====

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Criticisms:

 * [|cultural imperialism]
 * [|Digital Divide]
 * environmentally friendly